VOICE FROM THE PIT
With memory stirred by an item in last Saturday's "Fifty Years Ago" column, a correspondent recalls an incident in a theatrical performance at the old Opera Mouse on the night of December 26, 1886. There were two pieces, "The Bells" and a one-act play "The Love Test," and the leading players were Mr. Henry Alleyne and Miss Florence Wade, to the best of the correspondent's recollection. The house Was packed, he says, with a rollicking holiday audience, who gave "The Bells" a patient and tolerant hearing, notwithstanding the many shortcomings of the performance, but when it came to the one-act "Love Test" a large portion of them decided to contribute to the evening's fun. Soon after the beginning of this piece interruptions from the audience were the rule, and the crowning witticism came as the heroine was expatiating aside in distressful tones—"Oh, why am I so hervous? —whence comes this sinking feeling?"—when a voice from ihe pit issued forth very distinctly, "Yer've 'ad too much duff!"
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19370102.2.48.4
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1937, Page 10
Word Count
170VOICE FROM THE PIT Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1937, Page 10
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